Abstract
An X4-AUV composed of four Ministers is designed and manufactured to develop a small-sized AUV which does not use any rudders. This AUV has four thrusters, but each thruster is arranged at equal intervals at the side of the body, and three attitude motions and the translational motion in forward are realizable by changing the revolutional speeds of four thrusters. First, the construction of an X4-AUV and its motion are explained, together with considering of the added mass. Next, regarding the production of the X4-AUV, several aspects are described in, e.g., the selection of parts, the structure and thrust of a thruster, the manufacture of a waterproofed container, etc. Finally, some experiments are conducted to verify the forward motion of X4-AUV and the rotational motion in each attitude.
